In December 2019, the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners established the Hamilton County OPEB Trust Fund. Retired employees of Hamilton County can participate in postemployment benefits through the Trust. The Trust is a single-employer defined benefit plan. The benefits provided are health insurance and life insurance. In December 2019, the County made a one-time contribution to the fund of $15,000,000. No other events took place in 2019. Fiscal year 2020 transactions were as follows:
1. The County paid its actuarially determined annual contribution of $8,750,000.
2. Member (employee) contributions totaled $4,500,000. Of this, $4,500,000 was collected by December 31 and the remainder will be collected in January 2021.
3. Cash totaling $20,000,000 was invested in U.S. government securities.
4. Interest totaling $1,407,000 was earned on these securities. Of this amount, $1,364,000 was collected during the year.
5. Because the County offers a drug plan to retired employees, the federal government Medicare program provides a subsidy to the County. The County received $712,000 from this subsidy.
6. Benefit claims from employees totaled $11,722,000 for the year. By year-end, $9,460,000 had been paid to employees.
7. Administrative expenses totaled $147,000 (all paid in the current year).
Required:
Use the Excel template provided to complete the following requirements; a separate tab is provided in Excel for each of these steps.
a. Prepare journal entries to record the information described in items 1 to 7.
b. Post these entries to T-accounts.
c. Prepare closing journal entries. Post to the T-account provided.
d. Prepare a Statement of Changes in Fiduciary Net Position for the year ending 2020.
e. Prepare a Statement of Fiduciary Net Position as of December 31, 2020.
